Hospital-bed.



No. 726,472. PATENTED APR. 28, 1908.

' J. B. SMITH.

HOSPITAL BED;

APPLIOATION FILED NGV. 5, 1901.

110 MODEL.

Ain't lunch.

JOHN B. SMITH, OF DES MOINES, IOVA.

HOSPITAL-BED.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 726,472, dated April 28,1903.

Application filed November 5, 1901- Serial No. 81,197. N m l- To ctZZwhom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN B. SMITH, a citizen of the United States,residing at Des Moines, in the county of Folk and State of Iowa, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Hospital-Beds, of whichthe following is a specification.

The object of my invention is to provide a hospital-bed of simple,durable, and inexpensive construction which is as comfortable as theordinary bed, but has a simple device for lowering the mattress awayfrom the bed, leaving the patient who has been lying on the bedcomfortably lying on cross-straps, which are attached at each end to theside rails of the bed, without changing his position.

A further object of my invention is to provide a hospital-bed of lightand durable material which has detachably connected with it a removablestandard of simple and durable construction, to which hooks can bereadily attached -to or detached from, and which can be taken apart andstored in a minimum amount of space when desired by the operator.

A further object is to provide a hospitalbed which can be used with thedetachable mattress-bearing frame or without it.

A further object is to provide a hospitalbed of suitable material whichshall be sanitary in every particular and which can be easily takenapart and cleansed when desired.

My invention consists in certain details in the construction,arrangement, and combination of the various parts of the device wherebythe objects contemplated are attained, as hereinafter more fully setforth, pointed out in my claim, and illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings, in which Figure 1 is a plan View of the entire bed with theposts cut away. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the bed with the topportion of the posts cut away and the mattress bearing frame shown indotted lines in its lowered position. Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional viewof one of the side rails of the bed, showing the means for holding thecross-straps at their end portions. Fig. 4 is a detail view of the endportion of one of the side rails of the bed, showing the ratchet-wheeland catch for holding the mattress-bearin g frame in the desiredposition against or away from the bed. and means for attaching thebed-frame to the mattress-bearing frame. Fig. 5 is a detail View of theopposite end of the side rails shown in Fig. 4 and shows the means forattaching the mattress-bearing frame to the strap which is a part of themechanism for raising and lowering it. Fig. 6 is a perspective view ofthe crank to be used in turning the ratchet-bearing shaft.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, I have used thereference-numeral 10 to indicate the frame of the bed proper, comprisingthe side rails 11 and the end rails 12 and the upright posts 13 and thecurved corner-pieces 13, attached to the posts approximately halfwaybetween the top and bottom of said posts and designed to act as aconnecting-piece between the end rails and the side rails, all of therails, upright posts, and collarpieces being of metal and hollow intheir central portions. On the outside of each of the side rails I haveattached the thin metal strips 14.'by means of the screws 15. Thewashers 16 are placed between the metal strips and the side rails placedequal distances apart to form the openings 17, each of said openingsbeing the same size. Across the bed and extending from one side rail 11to the other and an'equal distance apart are the straps 18, the endportions of which are folded against the body portion and are fixed inthat position to form the loops 19, the said loops being pushed throughthe openings 17 between the metal strips and the side rail of each sideof the bed-frame 10 in such a. Way that these loops will extendpartially below the metal strips 14 and admit the pins 20, which are ofsufiiicient length to have their end portions engage the washers 16 andhold the said straps in position when the pins are through said loops.

Rotatably mounted in the bed-frame lO'are the shafts 21 and 22, parallelto the end rails, each having their end. portions in that portion of thecorner-pieces 13 close to the side rails 11. The shaft 22 has a squareend 23 thereon and is a little longer than the shaft 21, and is thusmade to extend through one of the corner-pieces and outside thereof toreceive. the crank 24., said crank being designed to assist the operatorin operating the device. Mounted on the shaft 22, near the square endthereof and inside of the cornerpieces 13, is a ratchet-wheel 25, theratchets on said wheel being designed to engage one end of the catch 26,the opposite end of said catch being attached by the pivot 27 to theupper side of the end rail 12 nearest it. Near each end of the shaft 22is fixed the metal loop 28. To each of these loops 28 is attached by oneend thereof a band 29, which is passed under the shaft 22 and extendsthe entire length of the bed and is passed over the shaft 21 until theend thereof reaches the floor on which the bed-frame rests, these bands29 having the hooks 30 attached at the opposite end from the oneattached to the.

loops 28. To each of said loops 28 are also attached by one end thebands 31, having the hooks 32 at the other end of them, and are ofsufficient length to reach the floor from the shaft 22.

I have also provided a mattress-bearing frame 33, comprising the tubularside rails 34, the tubular end rails 35, and the legs 36, which arefirmly attached to the side rails 34, said mattress-bearing frame 33being designed to fit inside of the bed-frame and to come against thestraps 18 when inside the frame and to be held in that position for thepatient to lie on when the straps are not holding his weight. Near eachend of the end rails of the mattress-bearing frame I have attached thehooks 37, with the eyelets 38 in them, these eyelets being designed toreceive the hooks on the ends of the bands 29 and 30 when it is desiredto draw the mattress-bearing frame against the straps in the bed proper.These hooks are unhooked when it is desired to remove themattress-bearing frame from beneath the straps in the bed-frame proper.I have provided two openings 40 on the inside portion of each of thetubular end rails 35, extending from the exterior surface of saidtubular end rails to the interior portion of them. These openings aredesigned to receive the ends of the hooks 37 which are away from theeyelets 38. On the mattressbearing frame is an ordinary mattress 39.

In practical use, and assuming that the mattress-bearing frame 33 standsupon its legs on the floor, the mattress 39 is placed thereon, and thecross-straps 18 of the frame are placed across the said frame inposition for use by putting the pins through the loops 19 in the ends ofthe cross-straps 18. When it is desired to raise the mattress bearingframe to its position inside the frame 10 and against the cross-straps18, the hooks 30 of the bands 29 are slipped into the eyelets in thehooks 37, and the hooks 32 are slipped into the eyelets 38, which areattached to the opposite end of the mattress-bearing frame, the bands 29and 31 being let outto their full extent. The crank 24 is then put ontothe square end 23 of the shaft 22, and by turning the crank 24 themattress-bearing frame is raised to its position against the straps 18,and the catch 26 engages one of the ratchets on the ratchet-wheel andholds the mattress-bearing frame in the desired position against thecross-straps 18. Assuming that it is desired to raise the patient andhave him lie upon the cross-straps, then the bed is lowered by raisingthe catch 26 and controlling the downward movement of the mattress-bearing frame by the crank 24:, and by unfastening the hooks and 32 themattress-bearing frame can be taken from beneath the bedframe 10 andplaced entirely out of the way. Then if it is desired to obtain accessto any part of the patients body any one of the cross-straps 18 may beremoved by taking out the pins 20, which are through the loops 19 ineach end thereof. The cross-strap which has just been removed can bereplaced by putting the pin in position from which it was taken and thecross-strap in its position. The operator can also lower away themattressbearing frame and take it to pieces readily and store it. He canthen take the mattress and use it as a part of the bed-frame properwithout the mattress-bearing frame by simply placing this mattress ontop of the crossstraps 18. The bed can be easily taken to pieces andthoroughly cleansed at any time on account of the metal substancesforming .the rails, posts, and corner-pieces, and it will be very lighton account of these portions of the bed being of hollow construction.This bed can be easily moved from one place to another on account of thesmall amount of room taken by it when the portions of the bed are takenapart.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patent of the United States therefor, is-

In a device of the class described, the combination of two hollow siderails, of two hol low end rails, curved corner-pieces for connectingsaid side pieces with said end pieces, a shaft rotatably mounted betweenthe two corner-pieces near the head of the frame, a shaft rotatablymounted between the cornerpieces near the foot of the frame, a pawlpivoted to the corner-piece nearest the ratchetwheel for engaging theratchets of said wheel and holding said ratchet-wheelin position rel=ative to the frame, a mattress-bearing frame made of hollow tubinghaving side rails and two end rails, curved metal corners for connectingsaid side rails to said end rails, said latter end rails having twoopenings extending from the exterior of the tubing into the interiorthereof, said openings being made in the side of the tubing nearest themattressbearing portion of the frame, two hooks extending partiallyaround each of said end rails of the mattress-bearing frame, projectionson said hooks entering said openings for holding the hook firmly inposition relameans for turning the shaft at the head of tive to the endrails of the mattress-bearing the frame for raising and lowering thematframe, an eyelet at the upper portion of each tress-bearing frame,for the purposes stated. 10

of said hooks, bands attached to said shafts, JOHN R. SMITH. 5 a hookmounted at each end of each of said Witnesses:

bands forenteringsaid eyelets and thus mak-l W. R. LANE,

ing the bands detachable from the eyelets, D.E. HOLADAY.

